One Small Step for the Web… Tim Berners-Lee launches Solid

Tim Berners- Lee, inventor of the Web, launches Solid via Medium post:

I’ve always believed the web is for everyone. That’s why I and others fight fiercely to protect it. The changes we’ve managed to bring have created a better and more connected world. But for all the good we’ve achieved, the web has evolved into an engine of inequity and division; swayed by powerful forces who use it for their own agendas.

Today, I believe we’ve reached a critical tipping point, and that powerful change for the better is possible — and necessary.

This is why I have, over recent years, been working with a few people at MIT and elsewhere to develop Solid, an open-source project to restore the power and agency of individuals on the web.

Solid changes the current model where users have to hand over personal data to digital giants in exchange for perceived value. As we’ve all discovered, this hasn’t been in our best interests. Solid is how we evolve the web in order to restore balance — by giving every one of us complete control over data, personal or not, in a revolutionary way.

Solid is a platform, built using the existing web. It gives every user a choice about where data is stored, which specific people and groups can access select elements, and which apps you use. It allows you, your family and colleagues, to link and share data with anyone. It allows people to look at the same data with different apps at the same time.

Solid unleashes incredible opportunities for creativity, problem-solving and commerce. It will empower individuals, developers and businesses with entirely new ways to conceive, build and find innovative, trusted and beneficial applications and services. I see multiple market possibilities, including Solid apps and Solid data storage.

Tim Berners-Lee, the Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets

Katrina Brooker, writing in Vanity Fair, profiles Tim Berners-Lee. "Berners-Lee has seen his creation debased by everything from fake news to mass surveillance. But he’s got a plan to fix it."

At 63, Berners-Lee has thus far had a career more or less divided into two phases. In the first, he attended Oxford; worked at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN); and then, in 1989, came up with the idea that eventually became the Web. Initially, Berners-Lee’s innovation was intended to help scientists share data across a then obscure platform called the Internet, a version of which the U.S. government had been using since the 1960s. But owing to his decision to release the source code for free—to make the Web an open and democratic platform for all—his brainchild quickly took on a life of its own. Berners-Lee’s life changed irrevocably, too.

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He is now embarking on a third act—determined to fight back through both his celebrity status and, notably, his skill as a coder. In particular, Berners-Lee has, for some time, been working on a new software, Solid, to reclaim the Web from corporations and return it to its democratic roots. On this winter day, he had come to Washington to attend the annual meeting of the World Wide Web Foundation, which he started in 2009 to protect human rights across the digital landscape. For Berners-Lee, this mission is critical to a fast-approaching future. Sometime this November, he estimates, half the world’s population—close to 4 billion people—will be connected online, sharing everything from résumés to political views to DNA information. As billions more come online, they will feed trillions of additional bits of information into the Web, making it more powerful, more valuable, and potentially more dangerous than ever.

Rams, a documentary about pioneering designer Dieter Rams

Gary Hustwit, director of Helvetica and Objectified, is making a documentary about Rams. 

For over fifty years, Dieter Rams has left an indelible mark on the field of product design and the world at large with his iconic work at Braun and Vitsoe. The objects Dieter has designed have touched the lives of millions of people––so many of us have had a Braun coffeemaker, shaver, stereo, calculator, speakers, or alarm clock. Or an Oral-B toothbrush. Or a Vitsoe 606 shelving system. Or any of the hundreds of other products Dieter has designed or overseen the design of.

His work has influenced the way most of today's consumer products look and function. The computer or phone you're reading this on looks the way it does because of Dieter Rams. Dieter's influence also extends to his "Ten Principles of Good Design," a list of edicts that champions simplicity, honesty, and restraint, and still applies to design theory and practice today.

At The Museum: Behind The Scenes At MoMA

See what it takes to run a modern museum in MoMA's documentary series, "At the Museum." Follow MoMA staff as exhibitions are designed, installed, and opened to the public. New episode premieres each Friday on YouTube.

As the Museum of Modern Art prepares to ship 200 masterworks by artists like Picasso, Cézanne, Rothko and de Kooning for a special exhibition at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, other MoMA staff begin to install a new line-up of exhibitions in New York.

MoMA curators Anne Umland and Starr Figura design a new exhibition of works by the artist Max Ernst. See what it takes to run a modern museum in our new documentary series: "At the Museum."

A number of decisions must be made quickly in advance of two exhibition openings, "Louise Bourgeois: An Unfolding Portrait" and "Max Ernst: Beyond Painting." See what it takes to run a modern museum in our new documentary series: "At the Museum."

What does art say to you? MoMA staff and visitors reflect on the purposes of modern art-as an aide to clear your mind, symbols of societal change, or as abstract images that can form links between two complete strangers. See what it takes to run a modern museum in our new documentary series: "At the Museum."

Only four episodes left in our new documentary series, "At the Museum." See what's next in this week's sneak preview: MoMA curators recreate the 80's East Village scene with a little help from Club 57 regular Joey Arias, and artists Carolee Schneemann and Stephen Shore install two new comprehensive surveys of their work at MoMA and MoMA PS1.

Australian Government Documentary Series: The House with Annabel Crabb

An unprecedented look at how the Australian government works.  One of the most interesting and well produced documentaries I've seen all year. 

The House With Annabel Crabb Episode 1 - Join Annabel Crabb on an all-access visit to Australia's Parliament House. As the 45th Parliament opens with a cast of apprehensive new MPs & an unpredictable Senate, Annabel takes us on a tour of the engine room.

The House With Annabel Crabb Episode 2 - Annabel explores the peculiar pitfalls of a workplace where all comes unstuck if 76 people can't successfully sprint to a designated point within 4 mins. She also reveals something unnerving about the coat of arms.

The House With Annabel Crabb Episode 3 - A behind-the-scenes look at just how much plotting, planning and rehearsal goes into the brutal piece of political performance theatre that is Question Time in the House of Representatives.

The House With Annabel Crabb Episode 4 - Annabel steps into the intoxicating world of the Senate, presided over by Senate President Stephen Parry (a former cop and undertaker) and his Clerk Rosemary Laing, an expert in 17th century British poetry.

The House With Annabel Crabb Episode 5 - Annabel inveigles her way into the building's Members-only dining room to hear a startling confession from former PM Tony Abbott. Plus a visiting dignitary, a look inside the Cabinet room & Nick Xenophon uncovers his plates.

The House With Annabel Crabb Episode 6 - The last week of Parliament arrives, full of Christmas parties & knotty legislative business which politicians have left to the last minute to fix. Security faces challenges as protesters infiltrate the building.